Fr, 02/20/15, "Day of Praise"
"Saul answered, 'But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?'" - 1 Samuel 9:21
Have you ever felt small and unimportant?
When I was a kid, I was quite overweight. I remember one day in 7th grade when I was wearing this pair of dark maroon pants that were very tight on me. I sat down in one of my classes, and I heard the back seam of my pants rip. Mmmmm, 7th grade, pants ripped in the back. Not good. Not everyone, but there were a number of students who had a field day with that. A few others then joined in.
I felt small.
But God, as always, was good. Amongst my peers were a few kind and encouraging voices. A very few. But my brother, Ben, my younger sister, Cheryl, and a girl named Billie Sue Dickson, were very encouraging.
God helped me to hear their encouragements. I will always be grateful to God for them.
In today's verse, Saul felt small. But Samuel was a lone encouraging voice. And out of Samuel's encouragement, Saul came to see how God could take smallness and turn him into a man with a changed heart, a man on whom God's Spirit would come with power, a man who could prophesy God's Word, a man who could strongly remain silent in the face of his detractors, a man who could be an instrument of victory over the enemies of others who felt small.
One voice, speaking with an ear toward God, can change a person who feels small into a person who lives large to the glory of God.
Friends, believe that God has given at least one voice to encourage you to live large to God's glory. Listen to them. Thank God for them.
And God has placed someone in your life so that you can encourage them to live large too.
Dear God, help us to see them and to speak. To your glory. Amen
Praise God!
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